On the line: Elon finds opposites

Despite his team's lopsided loss, Elon coach Jason Swepson has found positives to point out.

The Associated Press

By Adam Smith / Times-News

Published: Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 12:52 AM.

ELON — One game has flipped the perception of the Elon football team’s offensive and defensive lines.

Specifically, one game, one quarterback sack allowed and two injuries suffered.

“We went into the preseason with the defensive line probably being the strongest part of the team and the offensive line with a question mark,” coach Jason Swepson said. “Now, it’s kind of reversed.”

Defensive tackles Tony Thompson and Michael Pearson left last week’s blowout loss to Georgia Tech with knee injuries that are expected to keep them shelved until late September or early October.

Their absences shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for the Phoenix to overcome in Saturday night’s home opener against West Virginia Wesleyan, a Division II program.

But beyond this weekend — with matchups against North Carolina A&T, Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina coming next — Elon’s defense must manage minus some of its best interior bulk.

Thompson, a redshirt senior, team captain and perhaps Elon’s strongest player, was hurt on Georgia Tech’s second play of last Saturday. The 291-pounder, who slowly limped out of the visiting locker room while exiting Bobby Dodd Stadium on crutches and in a knee brace, has a sprained right knee.

ELON — One game has flipped the perception of the Elon football team’s offensive and defensive lines.

Specifically, one game, one quarterback sack allowed and two injuries suffered.

“We went into the preseason with the defensive line probably being the strongest part of the team and the offensive line with a question mark,” coach Jason Swepson said. “Now, it’s kind of reversed.”

Defensive tackles Tony Thompson and Michael Pearson left last week’s blowout loss to Georgia Tech with knee injuries that are expected to keep them shelved until late September or early October.

Their absences shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for the Phoenix to overcome in Saturday night’s home opener against West Virginia Wesleyan, a Division II program.

But beyond this weekend — with matchups against North Carolina A&T, Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina coming next — Elon’s defense must manage minus some of its best interior bulk.

Thompson, a redshirt senior, team captain and perhaps Elon’s strongest player, was hurt on Georgia Tech’s second play of last Saturday. The 291-pounder, who slowly limped out of the visiting locker room while exiting Bobby Dodd Stadium on crutches and in a knee brace, has a sprained right knee.

Pearson will have a cleanup-type surgery to repair meniscus. He was among the rotation of eight defensive linemen that had Elon confident in its depth at that position last month when training camp began.

Now, with defensive end Mike Warren still sidelined due to injury, walk-ons Ryan Seaberg and Rob Sullivan, a pair of sophomores, and true freshman Dominic Bourne, who had been considered for a redshirt season, will be counted on to step in and fill meaningful roles.

Meanwhile, Elon’s other side of the line of scrimmage was responsible for a silver lining that has emerged from the wreckage of the 70-0 loss to the Yellow Jackets.

“Happy and impressed with our performance,” left tackle Austin Sowell said, expressly about the Phoenix’s offensive-line work as a unit. “I think we did extremely well going against a very experienced defensive line that has a bunch of seniors on the ACC level.”

A supposed area of concern, mostly due to youth and inexperience at left guard and right tackle, Elon kept quarterback Mike Quinn clean in the pocket. He played 10 series, never was sacked or hurried and was hit on just two occasions.

Georgia Tech sack artist Jeremiah Attaochu, named during the preseason on watch lists for four national defensive awards (Nagurski, Lombardi, Butkus, Bednarik), scarcely registered a blip of pressure.

Georgia Tech’s only quarterback sack came in the fourth quarter on Elon backup John Loughery. And obscured by Elon’s four turnovers and the game’s overwhelmingly lopsided scoring margin were the Phoenix’s seven first downs and 12½ minutes of possession time in the second quarter alone.

Acha, in particular, created a positive first impression in his college debut. The redshirt freshman turned in a solid afternoon of blocking on the edge at right tackle. He even switched on the fly to the left side for several snaps when Sowell briefly departed with a dinged ankle.

“Incredible,” Swepson said. “You don’t see that, not from a redshirt freshman.”

Said Sowell: “It’s not easy to do that, because you get in a groove of doing your set. You have to be comfortable doing it, and to switch over middle of the game, it’s not easy to flip it.”